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Coupling ultrasound energy into patient during CT-guided histotripsy

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Design a device to hold a US transducer and coupling medium securely on a patient and the patient table during a histotripsy treatment without interfering with the CT gantry.

Project Overview

Histotripsy is an emerging treatment for cancer that uses ultrasound energy to mechanically destroy tissue. It can be used to kill targeted tissue precisely while saving critical structures. Histotripsy is soon to be cleared to be utilized clinically, but one critical limitation in this process is the current reliance on diagnostic ultrasound (US) for targeting tumors, many of which cannot be seen using US. As a solution, x-ray-based technique using C-arm cone beam CT (CBCT) has been developed to target tumors accurately in phantom, ex vivo and in vivo environments. Extending this technique to conventional CT scanners can improve image quality and facilitate treatment of tumors in challenging locations. During histotripsy, the therapeutic US transducer is positioned in a bath of coupling medium (degassed water) to couple the energy into the patient. To be able to hold the coupling medium in a CT scanner, a new device needs to be developed that can hold the coupling medium securely on a patient during a histotripsy treatment. Additionally, the device needs to be able to securely attach to the patient table and stay in place during table translation into and out of a CT gantry. This coupling medium holding device should have minimal effects on CT image quality. This device has an important impact on further development of CT-guided histotripsy and clearance of histotripsy as an effective cancer treatment.

Team Picture

Madison Michels, Sarah Graham, Corissa Hutmaker, Logan Olivera, and Claire Nesemann
Madison Michels, Sarah Graham, Corissa Hutmaker, Logan Olivera, and Claire Nesemann

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